Periodontal diseases are rapidly becoming a major medical concern as populations are living longer.
In an article by Walter J. Loesche and Natalie S. Grossman of the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan entitled “Periodontal Disease as a Specific, albeit Chronic, Infection: Diagnosis and Treatment” they reported: The prevalence of periodontal disease increases with age and as more people are living longer and retaining more teeth, the number of people developing periodontal disease will increase in the next decades. About 50% of the adult population has gingivitis (gingival inflammation without any bone loss about teeth and no pockets deeper than 3 mm) around three or four teeth at any given time, and 30% have periodontitis as defined by the presence of three or more teeth with pockets of ≧4 mm. Between 5 and 15% of those with periodontitis have advanced forms with pockets of ≧6 mm. Another 3 to 4% of individuals will develop an aggressive form of periodontal disease, known as early onset periodontitis (EOP), between the ages of 14 and 35 years. Any medical condition that affects host antibacterial defense mechanisms, such as human immunodeficiency virus infection HIV, diabetes, and neutrophil disorders, will predispose the individual to periodontal disease.
In that study these University of Michigan scientists concluded that most if not all forms of periodontal diseases are specific, albeit chronic, infections. They note the suppression of these diseases by mechanical debridement and the judicious use of antimicrobial agents targeted against specific anaerobes may be the best antimicrobial treatment known to date and that a huge benefit will be the discovery of really effective treatments which may be stimulated by the fact that periodontal diseases have been linked to cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Their study confirmed that within microbial soup found in infected pockets of the gum are often 500 distinct types of aerobic, anaerobic and microaerobic type organisms with clusters of anaerobic types being the most prevalent suspects in these degenerative diseases. Naturally with such a broad and diverse spectrum of infectious bacteria to treat most antimicrobial treatments have been far from effective.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,898 entitled “Local Delivery of Agents for Disruption and Inhibition of Bacterial Biofilm For Treatment of Periodontal Disease” adds to the discussion by focusing on the fact that plaque is a principal causative agent of periodontal diseases and goes on to suggest plaque and its related buildup is a biofilm that can best be regulated by the use of time release biodegradable microspheres for sustained, controlled delivery or agents to disrupt and inhibit the formation of biofilms at localized periodontal treatment sites.
He suggests insertion of biodegradable microspheres containing agents active against bacterial biofilms into the gingival crevices or pocket regions.
The apparent frustration that results in the use of microbial antibiotics to fight periodontal diseases caused by bacteria laden biofilms is the bacteria's ability to adapt even mutate to wherein these medicinal drugs have little or no effect. Accordingly the use of such antibiotic treatments is used only in last resort cases wherein the host patient has virtually no other viable recourse.
This puts the dental and medical community at a disadvantage in that effective and long term solutions do not appear available. Treatments that may only strengthen and stimulate anaerobic mutations that may be worse to control significantly limits the treatment options.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a treatment option that can germicidally eradicate bacterial formation including biofilms either as a stand alone treatment or in conjunction with debridement procedures or medications.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method of periodontal treatments that can repair damaged tissue and regenerate new growth of tissue in a degenerative condition.
This and other objectives are described in the description as follows.